Crestline Soaring Society

The Marshall Webcam caught the smog rolling in from 3:00 to 5:00. It was so thick it looked like a dust cloud, the wind most have picked up at Marshall around sunset.

Not complaining, but October isn't usually this moist, is it?

If the NWS forecasts are accurate (as they have been lately) we're looking at weak offshore winds Thursday and Friday, brief onshore with a deep marine layer Saturday, followed by strong offshore for Sun/Mon/Tue, possibly longer.

Marshall will probably be flyable Thu and Fri, at least late in the day.

17:00 Wed - NWS is now saying "North wind between 15 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph" for Thursday...

Third in a string of very hot (110F) and humid days with abundant moisture coming from south and east. Previous two days had serious gust fronts plus thunderstorms with lightning. Also 10K+ soaring and several long distance XC flights. I launched my Falcon 225 from Marshall at 14:41 after deciding I had a good hour before any gust fronts came through (faith!) and the drift was so fast I headed west before trying a serious climb. Hooked one at Regionals at 3700 MSL, good 300-500 FPM lift. At 5300 it stopped drifting so much and sped up. I had about 1300 FPM peak climb rate, a little like balancing on a beach ball, and left the lift when I got to 10,600 MSL; clouds were within 1000 feet. I descended a bit and enjoyed the spectacular view, but got worried about a large cell with a tall top over Moreno Valley, plus rain over desert, fire toward Big Bear, lots of aircraft - spotters and bombers low, and close helicopter at 8k MSL. Decided to top land before a gust front could come from Moreno Valley. Had to fight to get down to Marshall. First approach couldn't get low enough. Second approach I flew the glider with the basetube about 2 feet AGL until it was starting to settle; pushed out a little and rolled my body to lay on ground on harness. Too windy to actually flare, too bumpy to settle gently on feet. No blood, but a couple of scores in my right calf, mild charley horse in right thigh.

It appears that they've re-oriented the CalState campus web cam and it now points toward Marshall Peak in the 'Pan Far Left' position! We'll be able to see cloudbase! We'll be able to see gliders! We'll be able to see the windsock (well, maybe not).

If you pan far left, tilt the camera up one click, then go to the middle of the zoom range you can get a pretty decent look at the peak. If you zoom in very close, the peak and windsock go out of frame to the left. Maybe you could make out the sock in full daylight, but I doubt it.

Based on the NWS forecast discussion, it'll start blowing down some time today, with N winds through Friday, possibly rather strong winds. There's a small chance Marshall could be flyable late Friday if the N weakens rapidly enough. Saturday is projected to have East winds becoming SE, followed by developing offshore flow Saturday night into Sunday.

Best bet for flying is to plan on Saturday for Marshall/Crestline. Could be some good altitudes. Dress warm.

Cell-phone snap of Marshall at about 10:30 on 12 Jan 07. There had been 1/2" of snow on the LZ.

At 7 AM on Jan 12 the wind is about 5 MPH out of the North and here on the South side of Little Mountain, about 5 miles SE of the LZ, it's snowing. Light granules, 2-3mm, drifting down from the North. Temperature is 30F. No accumulation on the ground, but it's starting to persist on surfaces. In the NWS Forecast Discussion yesterday the forecaster had speculated that we might see snow levels dip to 900 MSL. The SBD airport (Norton AFB) is at 1000 MSL; LZ is 1700 MSL.